


Cardinal Attributes

by Caicieskate



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A lot of her classmates are mentioned but don’t speak, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Redemption, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Anger, Anxiety, Chloé Bourgeois Being Chloé Bourgeois, Exhaustion, F/M, Fear, Honestly don’t expect much, Just the ‘high road’ comment, Light Angst, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila salt, Love, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Deserves Better, Marinette gets split into her five main emotions, Minor Alya salt, Sadness, What is this?, but it’s pretty quick since he doesn’t have much to redeem himself for, but it’s quickly dealt with, dont ask me, except for Lila, i’m not really sure what this is, kinda? is this bashing?, light salt, minor Adrien salt, nino is a good friend, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-19 11:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29749749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caicieskate/pseuds/Caicieskate
Summary: When Marinette is hit by an akuma’s arrow, she’s split into her five main emotions for her whole class to see. It doesn’t go quite like anyone expected.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 33
Kudos: 600





	1. The Truth of Marinette

Marinette would admit that she wasn’t the best at expressing how she really felt. In fact, a lot of the time she actively repressed anything but happy emotions. Hawkmoth was always searching for prey and as Ladybug, as well as the newly dubbed Guardian of the Miraculous, she just couldn’t afford to be compromised. In a lot of ways, Marinette knew this was unhealthy. She knew that this would only end badly, and she didn’t need Tikki to tell her about how much she needed to accept her feelings. Still, she never quite thought it would cause someone  _ else _ to become akumatized.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” A teenage girl with an elaborate outfit kicked open the classroom door. Her whole body seemed to be split in two, one side white and the other black, even down to the split colours on her lips. In her hand was a white bow, a black quiver with black and white arrows sitting on her back. She was easily recognizable as an akuma. What wasn’t easy was trying to figure out why she was targeting  _ Marinette _ .

“W-What?” Marinette squeaked, reactions delayed just a second as the situation hit her. How was she supposed to transform and save the day if the akuma was after her? Could she slip away? But the akuma had already seen her. What about trying to run and hide? Too late, the akuma had barricaded the door and locked eyes with her.

“‘W-What?’” The akuma repeated in a mocking voice, eyes innocent before they narrowed dangerously. “Oh, shut up already! What’s so special about you anyways, huh? Little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes? As if! I bet you’re just like the rest of us, aren’t you? I’m sure that you’re a bad person too, you just hide it away where no one can see. Well, guess what!? No more hiding, Marinette. My name is Revealer, and I’ll show the world just how ‘sweet’ you really are. And when he sees that you’re just how evil you are, he’ll come back to me!”

Revealer snarled, knocking back a black arrow and sending it hurtling for Marinette. Marinette squeaked, diving to the side and tripping. She tumbled down the stairs to the front, where Revealer quickly grabbed a new arrow.

“Dodge this!” Revealer grinned, letting the arrow fly point-blank at Marinette’s chest. Marinette heard a few of her classmates screaming, but when she looked up, it was to the arrow piercing her chest. A bright light filled the room, students yelling in alarm and ducking behind desks. Then, abruptly, the light cut off. Adrien was one of the first to dare look and see what had happened.

“Marinette?” He stood up quickly and ran over to the unconcious body of his friend. Carefully, he pulled her head into his lap and tried to wake her up.

“Marinette? Marinette, can you hear me? Answer me! Please, Marinette!” He pleaded, getting louder at every ignored word. He jumped at the sound of Revealer’s cackling, curling himself over Marinette like a shield.

“Don’t bother, Agreste! She can’t hear you anyways. My arrows steal the personalities of their victims and leave the main body empty. Then, I can do this!” Grabbing a white arrow that shimmered faintly from her quiver, Revealer aimed quickly and shot it into the floor. Not even a second after impact, five humanoid figures popped into view. They each looked exactly like Marinette, but with small changes. The one coloured in all blue had her hair loose and tears in her eyes. The one burning red had her hair in the usual pigtails but with ends dyed a bloody crimson and a sneer on her face. The one with pink clothes and a cute bun had cracks across her whole body like shattered glass and the one curled up under a desk with a purple hoodie watched everyone with cautious eyes. The final one was split down the middle, half a trembling orange and the other half a wilting grey. Both had deep bags under their eyes.

“W-What are those!?” Chloe shouted, eyeing the Marinette copies suspiciously. Revealer’s grin was all teeth.

“Those are Marinette’s core attributes,” she explained. “The five major emotions that make her who she is. And I’m going to expose all of them!”

Nino scowled almost immediately. “What the hell!? So not cool, dude! That’s an invasion of privacy! I’ve known Marinette since we were kids and she may not be perfect, but she’s genuinely kind! You’re just being jealous!”

Revealer snarled, “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Marinette is a scam and I’ll prove it to all of you!” She spun on her heel, pointing at the red Marinette. “You! Come on, don’t be shy! What emotion are you?”

“Are you an idiot?” The red Marinette sneered, crossing her arms. “Who the hell do you think I am, half and half? I’m literally bright red and my face isn’t exactly friendly either.”

Revealer bristled. “Red can just as easily stand for passion rather than anger!”

“Yeah, right. You want snuggles, talk to Miss Delusions, over there.” The red Marinette—presumably anger—scoffed, jerking her thumb in the pink Marinette’s direction. The pink Marinette beamed at the attention.

“Hi! I’m Love! It’s so nice to see you all,” the pink Marinette chirped, though the image was ruined a bit by the large crack that grew across her smile and curled under her eye. Revealer growled.

“Shut up, I’m not here for you. I’m looking for the real scoop! Which one of you is going to give it to me?”

The Marinettes were silent, Love’s smile never faltering despite how a crack cut up her shoulder and Anger valiantly ignoring everyone.

“W-Who are the rest of you?” Alya called out hesitantly, her phone already out and recording everything. Nino glared at her.

“Alya!”

“What?” She said defensively, “It’s not hurting anyone and... and maybe I’m a bit curious about Marinette. It’s just... she’s been acting so weird lately, bullying Lila and being really rude!”

Revealer perked up. “Bullying?”

Lila quickly saw her chance, forcing out crocodile tears and sniffling slightly. “She’s been threatening me and saying that she’ll hurt me if I keep hanging out with Adrien! I don’t know why, I really just want to be friends.”

“I knew it!” Revealer crowed, turning back to the Marinettes with a smirk. “Not so innocent now, are you?”

Anger snarled, fighting against the hands on her arms as Love and the blue one tried to restrain her. “You ugly, lying wench! I’ll kill you! How dare you!?”

Lila jumped back, not even faking anymore as her eyes widened in shock. “What the hell?”

“First, you come here and start spewing crap about knowing all these people and how you’re just  _ such a sweetheart _ ! Then, you lie about having the fox miraculous, steal Adrien’s book and dump it in the trash! When you’re called out on it, you get akumatized and decide that you hate Ladybug, despite claiming that you’re best friends with her to everyone else. And when I don’t fall for dumb stuff that crawls out of your mouth? You harass me, threaten me, turn all my friends against me and tell everyone that  _ I’m _ the bully. That  _ I’m _ the liar. So you know what, Lila, yeah, I hate you and I despise your lies. I’m not going to ‘take the high road’ because contrary to what you may think, Adrien, her lies _are_ hurting someone. They’re hurting  _ me _ !” Anger roared, panting lightly by the end. Her face was screwed up in undeniable rage. Adrien could only stare.

“Anger! C-Calm down, it’s not like we can blame anyone... I’m sure... I’m sure they didn’t  _ mean _ to hurt us,” Love protested weakly, but everyone could see as the cracks in her skin split deeper. Anger shot her an incredulous look.

“‘We can’t blame them’? They ‘didn’t mean to hurt us’?” Anger sneered. “We can blame them just fine. After all, we told them that Lila was a liar, exposed her crap right in front of them and what did they do? They called us jealous. Said we were ‘making it all up.’ I have a hard time believing they didn’t know that would hurt us. I have a hard time believing our ‘friends’ don’t know we  _ hate _ liars.”

Lila flinched as Anger’s burning glare landed on her. Was this really Marinette? But she’d never displayed this kind of anger, this pure  _ wrath _ .

“I have to admit,” Revealer purred. “When I was looking for Marinette’s dark side, I never expected  _ this _ . How amusing.”

“Amusing? You find this funny!?” Alix shouted, eyes wide and hands trembling. “What the hell is funny about this!?”

“Now, now, let’s meet the rest of you here. Do introduce yourselves!” Revealer cackled, motioning to the rest of the Marinettes. It was quiet before the half-orange, half-grey one stepped forward.

“We are Anxiety and Exhaustion. Once, we were separate, but time has merged us into one since we always go hand in hand these days,” they spoke in unison, two voices blending into one. The orange half was shaking like a leaf, while the grey half seemed ready to collapse.

“Two-in-one? What a steal.” Revealer grinned. “What about you?”

The blue one flinched at being addressed, hiding behind a curtain of hair.

“I-I’m... Sadness,” she whispered, on the verge of tears. Love gave her a smile and gently patted her on the shoulder. Love shot Revealer a look, glancing subtly at the purple Marinette.

“That’s Fear,” Love said quietly. “She doesn’t like to talk very much.”

“This is ridiculous!” Chloe scowled. “Utterly ridiculous! I don’t want to waste my time, listening to Dupain-Cheng squabble with herself. Where are Ladybug and Chat Noir!? Let’s get this over with!”

Adrien winced, glancing at the unconscious Marinette in his lap and then at his ring.  _ Chat Noir _ should be defeating the akuma but  _ Adrien _ had no way to transform without his whole class noticing. Where was Ladybug?

“C’mon, Chloe. Don’t you want to know what Marinette really thinks of all of you?” Revealer prodded, smiling wryly. Chloe paused, narrowing her eyes. After a second, Chloe turned to Love.

“You. The pink one. Be honest; you’ve always thought I was horrible, haven’t you?” Chloe demanded, crossing her arms. Love gasped.

“That’s not true, Chloe! You’re really kind in your own way, and I admire your confidence! You might not be perfect, but it’s okay because I’m not either! I know that you’ve been getting better lately, and I’m so proud of you!” She beamed, running over to give Chloe a big hug. Everyone was struck mute. Marinette had always been forgiving sure, but this was  _ Chloe _ . Anger rolled her eyes.

“You’re still a bratty witch though,” Anger added, causing Chloe to shove Love off of her with a growl. Anxiety gasped.

“Anger, don’t say that! What if she hates us now? What if it gets out that I called someone a witch and then everyone hates me and then people think I’m mean and then no one wants to be my friend and Adrien tells his dad I’m horrible and then I get blacklisted from the fashion industry and my parents ship me off to a military school--“ Anxiety blabbered, before Exhaustion cut her off with a yawn.

“If that happens, we can always put ourselves into a coma,” Exhaustion suggested. “Sleep _and_ we get to avoid all the problems in our life.”

Sadness sniffled. “If that’s the case, why not just die?”

Love stiffened, narrowing her eyes at Sadness. She slowly shook her head. “We can’t do that, Sadness, you know that. Our parents need our help with the bakery and--“

“‘And people would be upset,’ yeah, yeah, we know, Love.” Anger rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you don’t repeat this _every_ _ single  _ _day._ What’s it matter, though? If they feel guilty, that’s their problem. If everyone didn’t treat us like crap and take advantage of us all the time, we wouldn’t even think of dying as an option!”

“That’s selfish!” Love cried.

“You’re a total pushover! You’re the reason we’re like this, and look what good it’s done you!” Anger snarled, gesturing to the cracks that creeped over every inch Love’s body. “You’re just about ready to shatter, Love!”

“I-I...”

“Give it up already! You can only live for so long giving everything you are out and getting nothing back! You’re dying, Love! You’re almost de--“

“You think I don’t know that!?” Love screamed. “You think I don’t know that I’m breaking down and falling apart and  fading ? Because I know! I can feel it every time one of our friend’s believes Lila over us and I can feel it every time Adrien calls us ‘just a friend’ and I can feel it  _ every single time _ I push down my hurt, my pain, and my sorrow to see other people happy! I feel it, Anger! I know I’m dying! But... But I  _ can’t _ stop loving. It’s who I am.”

Sadness gripped her chest, feeling the full weight of Love’s anguish and Anger clenched her fists, absorbing Love’s rage. Fear trembled under Love’s fear of death and Anxiety gasped at the information Love accidentally revealed. Adrien froze.

“Wait, what?” He asked, glancing at Love. “What do you mean, every time I call you a friend? Are... Are we not friends?”

Love smiled sadly. “I’m in love with you, Adrien. You’re kind and thoughtful, considerate and sweet and genuine. I love the way you put the needs of others first and I love the way you always try and help whenever you can. I love how you smile when Nino shows you a song he thinks you’ll like and I love the way you listen as Alya talks about her blog even though you don’t understand most of what she’s saying. I love how you push Chloe to be better and how you give everyone second chances, even when they don’t deserve it. I love how much of a dork you are, and how invested you get in anime, and I love how proud you are of your puns, even if they’re ridiculous. I’m just... I’m completely in love with you. But I know that you don’t feel the same way, that you’re in love with someone else, so I’ve never pushed you for anything. Above all, I just want you to be happy.”

Adrien was dumbstruck. Absolutely silent. What was he supposed to say to that? How was he supposed to reply? Marinette...  _ loved _ him. More than that, she seemed to have for a while. It made something warm and sweet bubble up in his chest. What was this feeling? Why was his face so hot? This was different than being with Ladybug. It felt... nice.

“Yeah, well, just cause we’re bonkers for you doesn’t mean we’re not still pissed about your ‘high road’ advice,” Anger snorted, looking at him pointedly. He winced.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t... I shouldn’t have told you that. I thought that she was honouring our agreement but I see now that isn’t true. N-Not that my advice would have been right even if Lila did do as she’d promised, I just...! I didn’t realize she was hurting you and that’s my fault. I’m... I’m really sorry, Marinette,” He admitted, staring at the unconscious Marinette and brushing her hair out of her face. Love came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay. We know you only did what you thought was best,” Love reassured him. He gave her a shy smile.

“Do you hate us now?” Anxiety said suddenly. “Now that you know, surely you despise us? You must think we’re horrible and creepy and weird and--“

“I don’t think that,” Adrien interrupted. “I don’t think any of that. I think you’re kind and compassionate. I think you are one of the best people I’ve ever known. You’re our Everyday Ladybug, Marinette.”

Sadness suddenly burst into tears. “That’s not true! We don’t deserve that! We’re pathetic and weak and selfish! You shouldn’t say things like that about us.”

“If I had a minute of sleep for every time we felt guilty for ‘deceiving people’ by being nice, I’d have spent more of my life sleeping than awake.” Exhaustion gazed out with half-lidded eyes. Anxiety whimpered.

“But what if we really are just tricking everyone? What if we’re not nice and we’re actually really mean or we’re horrible people but we just don’t know it? What if we’re being nice for attention? What if I’m just pretending to be everyone’s friend? Am I who I think I am or am I who I think I could be? I don’t know anything for sure anymore, not even myself!” She gripped the side of her head like she could force it to stay together.

Anger inspected her nails. “Who gives a damn? We may be an jerk, we may not. But at least we’re aware of our flaws and don’t try to drag people down with us. Not like a certain  _ liar _ we know.”

Adrien shook his head. This was too much. Coincidentally, the rest of the class seemed to think the same thing because a few voices piped up.

“I’m so confused. What do you get out of this? Why are you just letting it play out?” Alix asked. Kim nodded along.

“How are we supposed to believe any of this about Lila, either? If Marinette can lie, so can these copy things!” Alya protested. Nino glared at her.

“Now, now.” Revealer fiddled with the string on her bow. “Let’s not be hasty. I’m getting a good show out of this. Exposing Marinette is giving me so much that I didn’t know before. Who knew she was so crazy, huh? As for whether they’re lying or not, it’s simple. They can’t. They’re copies embodying Marinette’s emotions. Even if Marinette can lie  _ about _ her emotions, her emotions themselves can’t lie.”

“W-Wait, so that means...?” Alya turned to look at Lila, who was alarmingly pale. Lila waved her hands around.

“H-Hey, wait, that... It’s the akuma! She’s lying, I’m not a liar! I would never lie to you guys! Marinette’s just trying to make me look bad again! C’mon, why would I lie to you? We’re friends!”

“Are we?” Nino countered. “Because I’ve known Marinette since we were kids and she would never bully someone. On the contrary, she hates liars and bullies. I trust Marinette. You? I don’t even know you.”

“I thought you were really looking out for me, but... you’ve been playing with us all along, haven’t you?” Rose sniffled, curling into Juleka’s side. Lila tried to stutter out an explanation, but no one cared to listen.

“You guys are so slow,” Chloe sniffed, nose in the sky. “I’ve known since she said she was Ladybug’s best friend. Even  I know that Ladybug would never make friends with a civilian while in the suit. Especially not with someone like you, Lila.”

“T-That’s not--“

“Give it up, Lila.” Adrien sighed. “I wanted to give you a chance to make things right but you’ve only dug yourself deeper. I should’ve listened to Marinette the first time.”

As the class progressively got more worked up and Lila desperately tried to regain control, nobody noticed as Anger snuck up behind Revealer and in one swift motion, snapped her bow. Revealer gasped, spinning around with a snarl only to see her akuma getting caught in a jar and Love twisting the lid closed. Adrien gaped at them.

“When did you...?”

“Just now,” Love shrugged. She gave Sadness, Fear, Exhaustion and Anxiety soft looks. “I think it’s time to become whole again.”

Anger huffed. “Great. I get to be repressed into a small little ball that’s only released when we have a mental breakdown again. Fun.”

Love smiled bitterly. “We’re too valuable to be akumatized.”

“I know.” Anger averted her eyes. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“No,” Love said softly. “It doesn’t.”

Then, in the blink of the eye, like they’d never existed, the five Marinettes disappeared. The jar hit the ground with a thunk but thankfully didn’t break. Adrien stared for a moment before whipping his head around as a squeak came from his lap. Marinette stared up at him with wide eyes, her face burning a bright red.

“Marinette! You’re okay!” Adrien cheered, wrapping her up in a tight hug. She choked on air, shaking in his arms.

“W-Wait what? What is going on? W-What happened!?” She blubbered, but she didn’t fight his hold. He pulled back and beamed at her.

“It’s a long story.”

Marinette frowned but before she could ask, Alya’s voice caught her attention.

“I can’t believe you! You’re worse than Chloe and that’s saying something! You’re like a supervillain without a suit!” Alya yelled at Lila. Marinette stared with wide eyes.

“What...?”

Adrien winced. “That’s a longer story.”

She met his eyes. “I want to hear it.”


	2. The Truth of Rachel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel—aka Revealer’s—backstory by common request. Sorry it’s short!

Rachel wasn’t perfect. Far from it, in fact. She could be stubborn and bossy. She wanted control and she craved routine. This fed her blunt disposition and sometimes she bordered on rude. She knew this, and she was working on it. Her boyfriend, however, was almost her opposite. He was extroverted and open-minded, a true free spirit. Even if she didn’t understand him sometimes, she loved him. Lately though, she had started feeling unsure that he loved her back. 

It started small—cancelled dates and missed texts. Then it got worse, where he would avoid her at school and ignored her when she showed up at his house. The few times they did see each other, it was always arguing. 

“You’re ignoring my calls, you won’t talk to me at school, you pretend you’re not home when I come over and all my friends are telling me that you want to break up! I don’t even understand what I did wrong! Is it bad to want to go on a date with my boyfriend? Is it wrong to ask where you are when I haven’t seen you in a week?” Rachel cried indignantly. Noah ignored her, eyes firmly on the wall and arms crossed.

“Answer me! If you want this to end, then end it! Running away is a coward’s prerogative!” She fumed. He groaned, glaring at her.

“Fine, you want to hear the truth? I hate this! I’m sick of getting strung along! I don’t even know why we started dating in the first place, you’re nothing like  _ her _ !” 

Rachel froze. “Her?”

Noah almost seemed like he was going to ignore her again. He hadn’t meant to let that slip, obviously, but it couldn’t be unsaid now. 

“Her,” He confirmed, looking to the side. “Marinette.”

Rachel tried to place a face to the name. She was the pigtailed girl in the other class, wasn’t she? The class rep. The sweetheart of the Akuma Class. 

“How long?” Rachel asked, deathly calm. Noah shook his head, opening his mouth but she cut him off. “How long!?”

It was quiet.

“I’ve liked her for 4 months.”

4 months. 4 months since Noah had started distancing himself, 4 months since the heartbreak started,  _ 4 months  _ since he cheated on her in his heart. 

“I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just... She helped me when I dropped my papers in the hall and she walked me back to my class. She’s so nice and bright. Like an angel. And she’s beautiful and I’ve been watching her lately and she’s just... She’s amazing. She even helped Chloe Bourgeois one time!” Noah rambled, and Rachel...

Rachel felt her heart break into pieces, because he had never felt this way about her. He had never been so happy to see her or excited to talk about her. Rachel listened as he talked about Marinette’s big heart (and thought of her own cold one). He adore Marinette’s bright smile (where hers was always contained and small). He admired her desire to help (where Rachel wouldn’t give it another thought). In every way that mattered to him, Rachel was inferior to Marinette. 

And it hurt.

It hurt like burning coals on her skin and a broken scalpel ripping into her heart. It hurt like tears that wouldn’t flow, like a scream she’d never voice. It hurt and it scorched and it  _ bled _ .

She didn’t say anything as she left, grabbing her bag and walking out. She didn’t know what to say. How could she voice that the way he talked about Marinette made her feel like she wasn’t good enough? How could she say that she loved him when he hated her? She was replaceable to him. She wasn’t sure how to explain how much that killed her.

Walking down the hallway, head low and lips pursed, she swallowed her hiccuping sobs. She would not cry. Instead, she got angry.

This Marinette was everything she wasn’t, but surely some of it was fake? No one was that perfect. No one was that kind without naivety. Somewhere, hidden deep inside was an ugly part of Marinette, Rachel was sure. An ugly, twisted part that would have Noah running back to her when he saw it. If only she could show him that Marinette wasn’t an angel, wasn’t a  _ goddess _ , but a fool hiding secrets.

She didn’t notice the akuma fluttering into her practice bow. She did notice the surge of power.

“Revealer, I am Hawkmoth. Your boyfriend has been tricked by the wiles of a wolf in disguise. I’ll grant you the power to show him the truth, but in return, you must get me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous!”

She smiled. “Yes Hawkmoth.”

**Author's Note:**

> Y’all, I’m literally so dumb... I was logged out and looking for good Nino and Marinette friendship fics and came across this story that sounded interesting. I tapped on it and started to read and realized it looked REALLY familiar. I was worried someone had plagiarized, so I check who posted it and... guys, I posted it. It was my story. Smh, my brain really just died.
> 
> Please note; any inappropriate content or comments with swearing will automatically be deleted. Thanks :)


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